The Arena
by Dastante
Summary: Kephlen has nothing, his mother was taken his home destroyed. All that's left, is the arena.
1. In the cell

**So yeah ummm this story doesn't really have any time frame related to the actual Mistborn series. I just wanted to build a story about allomancy. Also, I used all of the metals. Including the ones not used in the book, so I'm including a key of the metals and misting names not used in the original books at the beginning to help you guys. Hmmm, is that it? Oh, right.**

**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing related to allomancy (or feruchemy and hemalurgy for that matter). I am not Brandon Sanderson (although sometimes I wish I were).**

**KEY: Cadmium (Pulser): Slows time in a bubble around the user**

** Bendalloy (Slider): Speeds up time in a bubble around the user**

** Chromium (Leecher): Allows the user to rid another allomancer of their metals**

** Nicrosil (Nicroburst or Nicro): Burning it allows the user to briefly flare another allomancers metals**

** Gold (Auger)**

** Electrum (Oracle)**

** Aluminum (Aluminum Gnat)**

** Duralumin (Duralumin Gnat)**

** Forgot the other metals? Or just don't know? Check the Mistborn Wiki, look under allomancy.**

**Ummmmm, I think that's it. Enjoy!**

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><p>I opened my eyes to an unfamiliar room. Looking around I remembered what had happened and where I was. "The arena" I groaned. Anger and sorrow started building inside me.<p>

I sat up and put my face in my hands, feeling more lonely than I thought possible in that small stone cell. Tears welled up in my eyes as I recalled the events of the previous week.

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><p>My mother had come home in a fashion I had never seen, she ran. In a flash she had gone upstairs. I sat bewildered in the kitchen with a cup of water. Then there she was, in front of me yelling.<p>

"SWALLOW THIS" she yelled, holding a greenish bead in her hand.

"Why?" I asked

"Kephlen, just do it." She said.

I swallowed the green bead and asked her, "What's going on, and what did I swallow?"

She smiled at me sadly, "You swallowed a bead of Larasium, and you're being taken to the arena."

I looked at her incredulously, and everything went to hell. Metal coins blasted through the walls annihilating everything in their path. I watched in horror as several passed through my mother and she dropped to the floor. Then everything went black.

* * *

><p>"Larasium? What the fuck is larasium?" I mused aloud.<p>

"You don't seem too broken up about your mom dying." My cell mate Tyr said.

"Don't get me wrong." I stated. "I loved her, and I'm sad, but that doesn't help me right now. I'll have time to mourn later"

"Whatever. Anyway larasium is just a legend. Supposedly whoever swallowed it, turned into a mistborn like me." Tyr stated.

"Oh."

"Yeah. Why do you ask?"

"Because my mom made me swallow what she said was larasium before I got taken."

Tyr remained silent.

"You're up soon." I said.

"I know." He responded.

"What's the game today?"

"Oh you know how they treat mistborn, lots of foes, low chance of success."

"Yeah but at least you get to know beforehand. What's today?" I asked

"Standard arena, pulser, seer, nicro, smoker, three thugs, two coin shots, and a lurcher." He said. "Oh and I get two full panels, glass daggers, and a pouch."

"Full panel?" I asked.

"Yeah, a full panel of metals."

"Oh."

"Kephlen, sometimes I wonder about you."

We lapsed into silence as I sat back and wondered what it would be like to be a mistborn, or even just a misting. I ran through what I knew, weighing the pros and cons of each. Coinshot over lurcher, without pewter to save me from dumb mistakes I just considered being a lurcher dangerous. I would definitely choose to burn steel over iron. I guess besides iron being potentially dangerous, I just liked the appeal of pushing on metal more than pulling on it. Pewterarm over tineye, I see the appeal of enhancing the senses with tin but I'm more of a fighter. Rioters and soothers are actually the same to me. Both can achieve the same affect whether using brass or zinc. Coppercloud over seeker, burning bronze to find other allomancers just seems like a dick move to me. Neither pulser nor slider really appeals to me, but if I had to choose between cadmium or bendalloy, I'd be a pulser and burn cadmium. Seer over oracle, atium just seems superior to electrum. Leecher over nicro, getting rid of another's metal with chromium is more useful than flaring another's metal with Nicrosil in my opinion. Being an aluminum gnat or duralumin gnat is a joke, as neither metal affects you if you can't burn other metals. Finally, being an auger is a joke, burning gold is kind of useless.

"What's your favorite metal?" I asked

"Atium. When you burn atium, you feel unstoppable."

Silence again.

"How many wins do you have, Tyr?"

"Eight."

"Seventeen to go."

"As if they'll let me live that long." He said bitterly. "It'd be troublesome having an arena mistborn running free."

"Yeah, but it's happened before." I said.

"Mmhmm." He said apathetically. "When did it happen last?"

I opened my mouth to respond, and realized that I didn't know.

"See Kephlen, like they're going to let me live that long."

I didn't respond.

"What's your next match?" Tyr queried.

"Just a master swordsman." I said. "But it won't be an issue, it's the forest arena."

"Management must like you." Tyr said

"Well I put on a good show in the forest."

"That's for sure, I saw your first match. No one even knew you were behind him"

"What can I say, the forest is my home."

Tyr chuckled and said "You know, they're advertising you as the reaper of the forest."

"I know, it's all crap. What I did wasn't even all that impressive."

"If that wasn't impressive, I'm not sure I want to know what is." Tyr said anxiously.

I laughed, finding the prospect of Try – a mistborn – being afraid of me, hilarious.

Silence reined once again.

Tyr started meditating in preparation for the arena, and I started my training regimen.

Not long after, Tyr was taken to the arena to face his 'low chance of success'.

I laid down and dreamed of my first time in the arena.

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><p><strong>U<strong>**hh yeah that's it for the first chapter. I dunno if I'll actually finish it or not because I'm decently certain it sucked. But whatevs.**


	2. 33 pounds of torque

**DISCLAIMER: Same as before, I'm not Brandon Sanderson and thus do not own anything related to allomancy, feruchemy, or hemalurgy.**

**I do however lay claim to Kephlen and Tyr (the character in this story not the dude in Norse legend). They're mine and you can't have them, unless you ask nicely I guess (not that anyone would).**

**Ummmm, I might throw in some hemalurgy and feruchemy in a later chapter, so visit the wiki and brush up on your knowledge. Also, all measurements are going to be in metric because metric is easy. I think that's it…**

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><p>"Kephlen, you're up." The guard said.<p>

"Good luck." My new cell mate Tyr said.

"Thanks." I responded as I was led from the cell

A million thoughts ran through my head as I analyzed the situation. I had been informed that he was a rather successful street fighter. I on the other hand was grouped with two other average men. The arena we were to use was the forest. I had the advantage; it's just that no one knew it yet.

We were just let loose in the arena, on the far side from our opponent. My two "team mates" were huddled balls of fear meaning it was also their first time, it also meant they were useless to me. I looked up into the sky; I had about three hours untill sunset and I ran into the forest to hide until then.

Around four hours had gone by and it was well and truly dark, or it would have been if not for the lights of the arena kilometers in each direction. It wasn't much light, but it was enough for my opponent to see what I needed him to. Two bells had rung while I was waiting, signifying that both of the men I arrived with were dead. I had expected nothing different. My vision had long since adjusted to the lighting, and I once again praised that my opponent wasn't a tineye. Now being a tineye wouldn't make beating him impossible, just far more difficult than under the current circumstances. Now the arena was by no means small, but it wasn't enormous either. It was an oval; three kilometers long ways and a kilometer and a half the short way. It had a small ten meter strip of clear land around the edge, and the rest was filled with thickly packed trees. The only exception to the trees, being a small pond near the center.

I was currently occupying a nice willow near that pond. I knew from just sitting and listening that my opponent sounded like a rampaging bear while walking through the forest so I was fairly certain that he was taking a break on the edge of the arena. I however did not lower my guard. With all of my knowledge now accumulated, I set my trap.

I started by cutting my hand open and leaving a very noticeable blood trail to some bushes at the edge of the pond, starting from a large fallen branch that was leaning against a tree. Next, off to the side of the end of my blood trail I dug a small hole in the mud that would keep me flush with the ground laying in it. Finally I covered the front of myself with mud, face included. With everything set up I set my plan into motion.

I waited until there was a lull in the betting in the stands offering me the quietest moment I was going to get, and I pushed the large branch off the tree. It worked better than I could have hoped, impacting a hollow log on the ground emitting an enormous thud. And I screamed for all I was worth. This done I calmly and quietly when to my hole in the mud where I cover myself up a little more just to be safe, and I waited.

My opponent – his name was Felean, or at least that's what I could hear from the announcers as he crashed through the forest – was being followed by a floating camera. I wondered about it for a moment, before deciding it was achieved by a team of lurchers and coinshots above the tree line. Felean stopped at the branch and then noticed the gleaming blood on the ground. He smiled "they make this to easy." He stated as he walked towards me.

I then noticed with a small amount of horror that he was not walking on the blood trial as I intended, but off to the side directly in line with me. I braced myself knowing that there was nothing that I could do, and he proceeded to step on my solar plexus. Felean chose my chest as a great place to plan his attack. When he finally burst through the bushes only to find me not there, I was more than irritated at him. I rose without a sound, walked calmly towards Felean in the shadows behind him, and I snapped his neck.

As he dropped, I heard the crowd gasp in confusion. I took a few steps forward into a better lighted area of the clearing, looked at the camera and said in the darkest voice I could manage, "I win."

I guess it took a few moments for what had happened to register, because the bell signifying death didn't ring for a good 30 seconds. As I walked to the edge of the arena, the floodlights turned on and the camera followed me back. The guards just stared as I walked past, back to my cell.

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><p>I woke up to the sound of Tyr returning to our cell, victorious yet again. He took one look at me and said "Nightmare?"<p>

I looked down and realized I was drenched in sweat. "Not really, just dreaming of my first time in the arena."

"Kephlen, what you meant to say was 'the first time I killed someone' right?"

"Yeah…"

A companionable silence fell as we thought to ourselves.

"Who would have thought that 33 pounds of torque would ruin my sleep?" I asked Tyr.

"Probably no one." He responded. "But I won an extra full panel for my next match off of you"

I smiled, happy that I had helped Tyr in some way before I drifted into a deeper dreamless sleep.

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><p><strong>Umm I might post the story of how Kephlen got his "ninja" powers. But if I do, it'll be posted on under the same pen name on fictionpress because it won't involve allomancy, which is the only reason this story is here instead of there. So yeah, just go to fictionpress and search for Dastante as an author if you're interested.<strong>


	3. Rules and Regulations

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything 'cept original characters. I'm not Brandon Sanderson. All that jazz.**

**Hit up the Mistborn Wiki, everything will make more sense. I Promise…**

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><p>Tyr and I were eating our mid-day meal when he brought up a topic I spent a lot of time thinking about. "Keph, do you ever think about escaping?"<p>

"Only all the time." I said "But it's practically impossible. They have a veritable army of leechers roaming the cell blocks. Not to mention the actual army of Hazekillers. Hell, practically all the guards are leechers _and_ Hazekillers. As well as the hemallurgically enhanced seekers that can pierce copperclouds, and hemallurgically enhanced soothers that can bring you to your knees just by looking at you. You get all of your emotions taken away and you forget to keep running."

"Yeah but people have escaped before." Tyr said, grabbing at straws

"And how long did it take before the Inquisitors killed them?"

"Less than two days for all three." Tyr said finally defeated

"You would have to have the mental ability to shake off the soothers, the raw talent to ignore the leechers and seekers in order to avoid using metals, and you would need to be able to kill Steel Inquisitors to ensure life after escape."

"Yeah."

"Why do you ask?" I queried

"I just wanted your input on something I thought about almost daily."

"Then I want your input on inmate betting."

Tyr thought for a second before answering "I am a fan personally, I bet all my items on you the past two times and I've doubled my stuff each time. Not to mention the full panel I won off your first match."

"Yeah, but prisoners betting for items to use in their matches that could potentially mean life or death for them…" I responded

"Well every misting is given at least one vial with their metal every match, and mistborn are given at least one vial with basic metals. And as for weapons and armor you can bet for them but why bother when you get your opponents stuff – although I do recommend getting a wooden shield as a non coinshot/mistborn as soon as possible – so why bother unless you're trained with a weapon."

"My point exactly. It's skewed towards allomancers." I said indignantly

"You can bet your stuff for hemallurgic upgrades." Tyr said sheepishly

"Yeah but you almost never get enough stuff to bet for that unless you're at 20 wins or more." I said

"Yeah but if you do get up to 20 wins you bet for that upgrade, because you get released at 25."

"And how often does that happen?" I shot back

Tyr lapsed into silence obviously unhappy that I had used his argument against him.

"All I know is, I'm betting on you. I'm getting another coin purse, the one I have is almost out. By the way, you do have a wooden shield right?" Tyr said switching gears

I nodded my head before adding "I have a full set of leather armor too, got it off my second match. As well as a bow staff and a pair of glass daggers from my third."

Tyr nodded appreciatively and then continued on "Do you know how to use those?"

"The bow staff I can use very well, the glass daggers I'm… okay with."

"I'll give you some pointers the next time we have practice time. Hell I'll even teach you, a lowly mistborn teaching the reaper of the forest."

We laughed together and finished our meals in companionable silence. A guard came by later and took our wooden trays.

Tyr took a nap while I did my katas for the various martial arts I knew.

* * *

><p>As dinner rolled around I asked Tyr when his next match was. "Well we both had our matches last week so mine is nine weeks from now and yours is three, and the following match is five weeks after that." Tyr said<p>

"Okay I was never explained this, how do they determine how long until your next match?"

"How long were you here before your first match?" Tyr asked

"About a week."

"And how long between that match and the match after?"

"Ummm, two weeks." I said thinking back

"The match after that?"

"Three weeks… Oh I get it." I said, glad he had made me figure it out on my own rather than trying to explain it to me. Tyr nodded; glad I had caught onto the exponential date system.

Then I suddenly realized, "That's right, I won three matches, I get to use the training field now!"

"Keph, sometimes you're really slow."

"You don't even know." I said "I didn't get to use the staff, I haven't held a staff in forever."

"Uh-huh." Tyr said unimpressed "That was still really slow. We're talking glacier slow here. I mentioned the practice field at lunch, it's dinner now."

"Oh hush. I get to use a staff, I get to run around. This is going to be great."

"Yeah, I'm defiantly going to teach you to use those daggers. Someone needs to take you down a peg, in my opinion." Tyr said, once again unimpressed by my antics.

"This is going to be great! I'm so pumped." I said, filled with excitement

"If this is you after getting to use the practice field, I can only imagine what you're going to do after you win ten matches and get to spend a day in each of the small themed arenas."

"I get to do what in the where now?" I said

"Wow, all thought process stopped. I said when you get ten wins, you get to spend 24 hours in each of the small themed arenas."

"That's even cooler!"

The rest of my exclamation was cut off by the enormous yawn that occurred, Tyr soon followed suit. Both of us deciding it was time to rest, we clambered into our respective "beds" and passed out.

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><p><strong>There might be some places where I switched from first to third person because my other story with these two characters is in third and if I did, I apologize, but I'm too lazy to go through it right now and check. So yeah… That's it for now I guess.<strong>


End file.
